


My Old Home

by Shipperoftrashyships



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday Gift Fic, F/M, Fluff, Merc is a good dad, first meeting AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 17:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15175367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shipperoftrashyships/pseuds/Shipperoftrashyships
Summary: After a drunken night out with her uncle, Yang wakes up in a somewhat familiar house, how will this turn out?





	My Old Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SleepingAshes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingAshes/gifts).



> Heyyyyo, this is a gift fic for killerdiamond! Happy Birthday dude!!! <3 Hope you have a great day. This fic was beta read by SuperSecretAgentQrow! Thx heaps and go check out his fics too! They're pretty damn fine!

A throbbing headache, check. Stomach knocking on the door of her mouth for an exit, double check. Unfamiliar couch she lay on, triple check.

 

Yep, Yang was going to straight  _ murder _ her uncle next time he mentioned barstool bonding night.

 

Even through her closed eyes, she could feel the morning sun beating down her face. Was it even morning? Qrow could spend days sleeping off a hangover and she hoped to goodness she didn't inherit that talent. Just a few more moments of blissful ignorance, and  _ maybe _ she could face the world again... 

 

What exactly what happened last night? It was around two days ago that she'd graduated from the police academy, and Yang had a girl's night out to celebrate before her sleazy Uncle Qrow had baited her into his little drinking game at the local watering hole where all of her future co-workers went to unwind after a long shitty day on the job.

 

_ Goddamned fish nuggets _ , if Chief Ironwood's first impression of her was anything like Qrow's she was done for. Now she was probably already late to save her career before it even began. The small hand tapping her shoulder seemed to agree.

 

Small hand..? Ruby was her younger sister but by no means this small, and it definitely wasn't as tiny and fluffy as Zwei's paw...

 

Ever so slowly Yang opened her eyes and came face to face with a pair of small grey eyes staring back at her. The little girl had silvery pink hair and didn't seem particularly surprised that Yang was lying on the couch, which meant that either the kid was going to be her youngest arrest for breaking and entering or Yang had been... _ here _ for some time.

 

“Uh, hi there,” Yang said, and immediately regretted it as her throat flared in post-alcohol agony. She shook her skull briefly and slowly sat upright, almost swearing off booze on the spot. The kid was apparently surprised to find that Yang could move because she bolted before Yang could stand up, running to some other corner of the house.

 

_ Mahogany door frame. Floorboards that creak just a little if you run on them. A faint scent of daisies and home. _

 

“Where am I?” Yang asked aloud. This clearly wasn’t her apartment, nor was it a completely new place to her. Where was she, and why was she here?

 

Yang hopped off the couch and swayed a little at the sudden verticality, catching herself on her prosthetic right arm. When she regained her balance she glanced at the wool blanket that had fallen to the floor. Whoever’s house this was, it seemed they bothered enough to make sure she didn’t catch a cold on their furniture. Come to think of it, that rocking chair in the far corner seemed a little familiar...

 

Like a zombie, she mindlessly wandered to the kitchen, where the scent of coffee and breakfast was wafting through her senses and making her stomach gurgle with anticipation. At a small wooden table, the girl from before sat down, not even acknowledging Yang’s intrusion on her Lucky Charms cereal meal. From behind her, she could hear sizzling oil in a pan, doubtless someone else’s handiwork. Now, why did she remember that there were exactly four cupboards above the counter, and two drawers under the oven and a space next to the sink to put dishes after washing them?

 

“Finally awake and already appraising the kitchen, I see. Looks like Blondie is trying to be an early riser,” an amused voice interrupted her musings to cut in. Yang nearly leaped back and put her new hand-to-hand training to good use but managed not to karate chop the intruder in the neck, at least for the sake of the breakfast girl over there.

 

...Well yes, technically  _ she  _ was the intruder, but it wasn’t her fault his voice was so criminally smooth. The man, obviously the kind of guy who broke and entered women’s hearts, was tall and lean, wearing black jeans and a grey v-neck shirt that matched the silvery texture of his hair. Yang almost forgot to answer him as she was too busy making note of every detail of his handsome face for a definitely-urgent police report back at the office.

 

Evidently, her silence was getting weird, as he lightly rolled his eyes and thrust a mug at her chest. “Coffee? I’ve heard from friends it works wonders on hangovers.”

 

Yang took the outstretched container, the heat returning feeling to her hands that had frozen in  _ oh god what a handsome stranger  _ shock and  _ wait is he talking to me?  _ awe. “Thanks, uh..?” Yang said slowly, hoping he would finish the sentence and let her brain catch up with the rest of her body.

 

Seemed he was smart  _ and  _ handsome - what a package - and he finished for her. “The name’s Mercury, what about you? They call you Couch and Yellowing Potato or something?” The girl from before giggled at that one and Yang couldn’t blame her - that was almost as good as one of her puns.

 

She offered her hand and cursed mentally when it was her prosthetic one. People didn’t usually appreciate the lesser of two limbs being handed to them. “I’m Yang, Yang Xiao-Long. Sorry if this is a quick turnaround, but could you tell me anything about what happened last night?” Yang asked him cautiously before she took a sip of the heavenly coffee.

 

Rather than be offended Mercury damn took the metal hand and kissed it without even flinching and Yang nearly swooned right then and there. “Well, I can tell you all that I know, which is surprisingly little for when you have a grown woman bunking in your living room for a night. Your cab arrived here at about one in the morning, and when I opened the door the driver just dropped you in my hands and told me you were my problem now. You’re pretty lucky I’m not some sort of serial killer or even a psycho scientist,” Mercury joked, as he grabbed his own mug of decaf.

 

The hell? “Huh, well that's...odd,” Yang tried, feeling more and more like she should turn herself in for public indecency just to apologize for all the trouble she’d caused in her drunken stupor. “But why would I send myself to some random house in the middle of -”

 

Suddenly it clicked. Yang brushed past him and set down her mug to open the sink window, popping her head out to see the old rubber tire hanging off a massive oak tree she’d given a name to a long time ago. All the little tidbits she remembered - the spacing of the stairs, the height of the ceiling, even the tiny grooves in the door frame - everything made sense now.

 

And she looked all the stupider for it, groaning as she pulled back into the kitchen and pinching her nose. “Oh my god, how could I be so stupid? I haven’t lived in this place for years! Are you telling me I sent a cab all the way to Patch and into my old home? Idiot, idiot, idiot!” Yang would be okay with evaporating right there if she could on account of avoiding this whole drunken-episode-fallout thing.

 

Mercury didn’t seem as perturbed by this as she was and just chuckled lightly. “So that’s what it was? I figured as much when you mumbled about looking for your dog in the basement closet. Well, after we’re done with breakfast I can give you a lift back home after I drop off short stacks over here,” he offered as his kid stuck her tongue out at him.

 

And intrude on even more of his life? This had better be the universe’s form of pity after giving her Qrow for a night. “No no, it’s ok, really I shouldn’t though Il-I’ll just get a uhh another cab or something...” Yang babbled, desperate not to give in to the voice chanting in her mind to let him take her for a joyride.

 

His cool insistence wasn’t helping. “I don’t mind giving you a lift, honest! I’ve gotta take Jessica to school anyway so it won't be much trouble at all. Gives me a chance to go grocery shopping in the city too.”

 

Screw it, it’s not intruding if he was convincing her to do it, she argued to herself before giving in. “...A-alright then, but  _ only  _ if you let me pay for fuel.” Yang bargained. She’d like to not feel totally guilty about taking over his night and morning, anyways.

 

“You can pay for gas if you let me pay for lunch afterward, I’m thinking of some McNuggets,” Mercury compromised with a shit-eating smirk.

 

Yang knew she had agreed when her knees damn near wobbled at his smile. “Is this how normally ask women out?” Yang asked instead, placing her prosthetic on her jutted hip and her human hand on her chest.

 

“Is it working?” 

 

She fought the urge to dip him low and kiss him. “A girl can’t give away all her secrets on the first date,” she answered instead. “But uhh, isn’t there a Misses Mercury I should be concerned about?”

 

The beautiful grin faded away and he looked pretty uncomfortable for the first time since she’d met this beautiful dad. “Uhh...no, actually, she err - she left a long time ago,” Mercury said a little quietly, turning to finish packing the boxed lunch for his daughter.

 

Welp, mood successfully killed. “Oh I - I’m sorry, I didn’t realise,” Yang quickly apologised. “Didn’t mean to bring up unpleasant memories.”

 

Mercury shrugged and spoke over his shoulder. “Nah, don’t be, she chose to leave so  _ she’s  _ the one missing out on all the fun. Ain’t that right, my beautiful lil’ unicorn?” He said that last bit to his daughter, who rapped on the wood to grab her father’s attention before making signs at him, and he smiled warmly.

 

“Jess says you’ve got beautiful hair,” he added, making Yang blush just a little bit at the indirect compliment from him.

 

“Aw, could you tell her I said thanks? Hers is pretty awesome too,” Yang asked.

 

“Hah, you told her yourself,” he replied as Jessica preened with her beautiful pink strands. “Jess can hear fine, she’s just mute like her mom. Doesn’t stop her from being the most expressive baby unicorn this side of the universe, isn’t that right?” he said as he playfully ruffled her hair. Yang sorely wanted to pull out her phone and frame that picture of them forever.

 

Shortly afterward, Yang had finished her coffee and the three of them were heading out of the door, which had been repainted a bright shade of grey she liked more than the dirt-brown her dad had used. Seeing Mercury chase after his kid and make sure she had all her things in her bookbag did strange things to Yang’s heart, so odd she almost thought she was in love. _That was w_ _ eird. _

 

The drive to school showed that it was a pretty day, the kind of day someone with a light hangover didn’t usually appreciate, but Yang was able to put up with it for the sake of the company she was with. Mercury had a bunch of CDs with songs she hadn’t heard in years.  _ “Ride the Lightning by Metallica? Isn’t she a bit young for this..?” “You’re never too young for the gospel of metal.” _ Yang even got to hang out with Jess for a little while.

 

“What’s your favorite class, Jess? Lemme guess - art.” Shake of the head. “Music?” No. “Reading.” Definitely not. “It can’t be math or science, can it?” Jess was enjoying this game but still no. Yang counted on her robotic fingers. “Math science art...I’ve used em all up! I didn’t miss a subject, did I?”

 

“Only the best thing in the world - ancient artifacts and civilizations,” Mercury said when they reached a stop light. “Can’t you tell? You’re looking at the world’s youngest history buff,” he said not unproudly as Jessica nodded emphatically.

 

“History buff? No kidding,” Yang whistled. “I can’t even remember the history of this town, let alone ancient empires. You must be super smart,  _ especially  _ for a unicorn.” Jessica sat back with a faux haughty expression and basked in the praise. Man, Yang had never seen a kid so smug since she’d babysat Weiss’ younger brother once.  _ Once _ . But it made Jess even cuter.

 

When they arrived at the kiss and ride Mercury reached back to open her door and Jess leaned in to give her dad a kiss on the cheek. Just before she stepped out, the little girl leaned forward and hugged Yang from the side briefly before she jumped out for school.

 

“She’s something else, isn’t she?” Mercury said, and Yang could hear his smirk even as she sat frozen by the half-second hug she got from a stranger’s kid. Today got weirder and weirder and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

As they drove off, Yang couldn’t help but think back to when he kissed her steel hand. Never had she met someone so... _ lax  _ about her prosthetic; not even her family was completely used to it. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at this unreal catch of a man stealing glances back at her as he drove on to a mystery restaurant for them, wondering how Uncle Qrow of all people was a better matchmaker than any of her friends.

 

Very slowly and  _ ultra _ -discreetly her left hand slid over to Mercury, hoping to find the hand that sat at five o’clock on the steering wheel. Instead, her hand landed on his leg with a loud clang.

 

_ Clang. _

 

Mercury damn near stopped the car, eyes wide and breaths shallow. Seemed he wasn’t expecting that to come up before the first date...

 

But instead of acting shocked, Yang simply smiled at him and left her hand right there, running it along the smooth metal of his legs as he recovered from the surprise. No way Yang was going to make a big deal about his own prosthetics if he wasn’t going to either. Eventually, Mercury grinned back and continued on, dropping his hand on top of hers as they drove to the earth-shattering drums of classic Metallica.

 

Yep, as they drove off to their first date and Yang googled online sign language lectures, she made a mental note to thank good old Qrow Branwen the next time she saw him. After she killed him of course.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed it <3 If you did leave a comment and kudos!!! They're always super appreciated!! <3


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